Once again, a weekend of Kansas football visits led to a pair of immediate Sunday commitments. That timing took on an added significance for one recruit, Damani Maxson of Clear Lake High in Houston.
Maxson posted that he was committing to Kansas on Father’s Day as a tribute to his own father, who died two years ago.
“Ever since he introduced me to playing football, we had a plan to make it to college ball,” Maxson said in a video posted to his Twitter. “Even without you being here, I made sure I stuck to the plan and followed plan. Hey man, we made it!”
Returning to Lawrence following an unofficial visit in April, the four-star safety — who now equals the recently committed cornerback Jalen Todd as the highest-rated player in the Jayhawks’ 2024 class, according to Rivals — jelled so well with the current players and coaching staff that he decided to make his timely announcement.
“(My father and I) butted heads a lot,” Maxson told Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com. “We did. But man, I miss him a lot. I know how important this is for him and for us as a family. So, man, I just know he’d be so proud of me, especially since the way everything has happened, the way my life has been, the way my story is going through, it has been a tough journey.”
Maxson garnered Division I offers from Arizona State and Georgia as early as December of his sophomore year, and additional opportunities followed at schools like Arkansas, Michigan State and West Virginia, but he picked KU, which had offered him last September. Visiting Lawrence, he said, reinforced his notion that Kansas was on a “steady grind” and an upward trajectory.
“I already knew Kansas was building something, so for the team that’s currently there that they know they’re building something, they know they’re going somewhere, I like that,” he told Kirby.
Entering Sunday, the Jayhawks had just one lineman out of their 11 recruits for 2024, but they made some inroads on the offensive side of the ball when Kene Anene committed, just one week after receiving his scholarship offer.
“I knew that it was the place for me because of the community surrounded by them,” Anene told Kirby. “At my school East Ridge (in Minnesota), community is a big thing so to see that at Kansas is awesome. I also knew this was the right place because I felt a great connection when I hung out with other players.”
The lineman has yet to receive a star rating from most of the major recruiting services, though 247sports projects him as a three-star prospect. Like fellow O-line recruit Harrison Utley, Anene had offers from service academies and Ivy League schools, though he also could have gone to Colorado State or a variety of Football Championship Subdivision programs (including North Dakota State, where his brother plays). Kansas was the first power-conference school to make him an offer.
The Jayhawks will await decisions from six more prospects who just visited Lawrence, as another group arrives this coming weekend.
